A TORNADO WATCH has now been issued farther eastward into central Kentucky. This watch goes until 5am eastern time. Here’s a look at the watch outline and the latest warnings…

Updates as needed.

Previous Update

Good Tuesday evening, everyone. A TORNADO WATCH has been issued for far western Kentucky until 1am Central Time. Here’s a look at the watch outline and the latest warnings…

Widespread damaging winds will also be a possibility for this region. The line of thunderstorms will continue to roll eastward into central and eastern Kentucky late tonight and early Wednesday. Additional watches are likely to be issued overnight.

61 Responses to Tornado Watch Expanded Eastward

Thanks Chris!! We have the weather radio ready as well as the laptops and cell phones charged. We’re not in the Tornado Watch, but prepared for what may come. Again, thanks so much for keeping us informed 🙂

Right on cue. Line of storms are getting into a very favorable atmosphere the low pressure is exploding. This is extremely concerning, the atmosphere is prime for nasty long track wind damaging storms and isolated tornado’s. I hope no renegades storms develop ahead of the main squall line. If renegades storms do develop watch out they will go severe in a heart beat. Any renegade storms that do develop will go tornaic and if they dont the pure wind energy will have straight line winds exceeding 70+ mph.

It depends, really. If been under training storms here in northwest Lex and it was like the craziest 2.5 solid hours of what I would describe as a downburst. It rained almost 7 inches. I think this was Sept 2006.

I saw something posted on Facebook by the NWS it was a video of the storm and the impact. It also had regions of KY shaded in for time frames it would impact. If I remember correctly they had Eastern KY shaded in from 7am-3pm

Thanks Chris.. the severity predictions have expanded drastically eastwards since yesterday… ie we have gone from “T-storms” to Strong T-storms here in central WV.. waiting for a “Severe T-storm” forecast with poss. high wind being the major issue. I am definitely keeping a “weather” eye on my desktop radar and YOUR blog tomorrow!!

For those in southeastern KY this was posted on Facebook from the Whitley Co. Sheriff

This is Sheriff Colan Harrell with a WEATHER ALERT. Beginning in the early morning hours of Wednesday January 30 (around 3 a.m.) Whitley County is expected to face winds in upwards of 40 miles per hour.

If you have a weather radio, consider keeping that radio on tonight so that important weather alerts may wake you while you’re sleeping. If you do not have a weather radio, the sheriff’s department encourages you to purchase one before future storms.

When power goes out, having a battery-powered weather radio can provide lifesaving alerts and updates.

Strong winds may cause power lines to be disrupted. Take the time now to charge all of your battery-powered devices, such as cell phones.

Water is a conductor of electricity. Do not approach downed power lines, especially if those lines are resting in water.

If you see downed power lines, contact your energy provider or Whitley County 911’s NON-EMERGENCY number (606) 549-6017.

I’m glad it’s weakening. I’m not surprised. I’ve seen this a million times since living here. Those big huge squall lines out in western KY moving across the state and the strangest thing is it’s always the same time frame (like now) late late at night/early morning hours when it finally gets here and usually it’s nothing as strong as it was……..Even though there is no reason for it to weaken, it still does by the time it gets here. Some parts of the line seem to pulse up and down, but the overall line always looks more orange and yellow and more thin than those deep intense looking reds. Our worst storms seem to come from the northwest or along stalled fronts in the area.

See my post below. What you are referencing with past systems is explainable…it may happen again this time, but it is being noted that the wind speeds in the low level jet continue to recrease. There is indication of wind speeds of 100 KT (115 MPH) at 4,000 FT and strengthening. If a thunderstorm downdraft happens to mix in with a slice of that later on…a good piece of that WILL translate to the surface.

Generally, the National Weather Service Louisville must be expecting this to “cycle” and intensify based on their update at 11:15 on their discussion package. However, I would otherwise agree…the squall does look less intense, and with the now faster timeframe of reaching I-75 between 3-5 AM combined with the buildup of a cold pool behind the line is suggestive of something I have seen many times before. When this happens, the line usually runs out ahead of it’s support before reaching Central KY, then weakens big time. That said, don’t take my word for it yet…as that has not occurred, and the NWS remains concerned about the setup as the system progs east. Stay vigilant.

It’s play by play at the moment with a line that is far away from my neck of the woods (Lexington)…but the line is definately re-energizing south and east of Paducah. Reflectivity is improving along the Kentucky portion of the line (let’s not forget to mention the issuance of two seperate tornado warnings).

Gotcha – one thing that’s NOT typical is the fact that I don’t ever remember a setup like this in January (of all months)

Something else I’ve always found really ODD. When we do have a squall line that moves through here that is rather intense, you see the occasional flashes of lightning and hear some faint distant rumbles of thunder, but nothing like the intense close lightening and loud thunder you hear during summer storms. It’s mostly just brief intense rain and wind as it moves through.

I hate to tell ya James…but it probably is too early to tell. I think we deal with this right now, then know it’s gonna get cold after for a least a short bit, and we get back to tracking some snow. We are dealing with an enhanced (exaggerated) jet stream pattern in decent part due the “sudden stratospheric warming event” phenomenon over the poles. It’s hard to say if the jet stream pattern will be as exaggerated in the spring, or where those enhanced kinks and curves will be.

As the line progs east…the storms are moving northeast at a pretty good clip…for Lexington tracking purposes…I’m following activity down in Tennessee to see how it evolves in our direction as the overall line approaches.

I figured so. Thanks for the information, it’s frightening when half your life it you really don’t have anything to worry about, but in the past four to 6 years it’s been pretty scary. It’s interesting, but I hate the being scared part. Is it bad I check the weather every day? Haha Chris’ blog has been my life basically, I check it everyday.

Here in Calloway County we just went through two tornado warnings, one for the west side and one for the east side. I live on highway 94 in Lynn Grove west of Murray. Either we had strong winds or a tornado because between my house and Murray reports of downed trees and road signs here. My family is safe thank goodness.

It looks like it has weakened a little more, but in a way I don’t think it has due to the tornado warnings. I wish this would just hurry up and get over with. That is with not much damage and now injuries.

While the line has weakened overall in the past 2-3 hours, there definitely has been a trend to see more of the embedded vortices within the line. I’m more alert regarding the line now than I was an hour ago, even though any actual tornadoes embedded in the line would be weak. Nonetheless, still strong winds and nothing to mess with.

I mean the wind has been HOWLING for hours……..Just howling. I have all my windows open at 3:43 am in Late Jan. Heat has been turned off, and with the windows having been opened for a few hours, it’s 71 degrees inside my house.

WAVE3 in Louisville’s been live cast streaming to cover this event down to a granular level so everyone understands how their specific area is being affected in real time. Team effort, they’re all over it.

Would love to have something like this from WKYT, since I cannot receive a strong enough signal from them since the HD changeover. Yes, even with an additional antenna.

Severe T-storm warning for an area including Perry Co. Chris, your warning came before that of the local radio station, which I was listening to. Good work. Let’s see….I gotta get ready. Where’s my flashlight?